Insights into the Tethyan mantle heterogeneity: Trace element evidence from the Karakaya Complex, Central Anatolia

Abstract

The Nilüfer Unit of the Karakaya Complex (northern Turkey) preserves the remnants of the voluminous Triassic Tethyan magmatism. In the Imrahor area (Ankara), the Nilüfer Unit is characterized by a megablock consisting of hydrothermally altered basalts, gabbros, and subordinate wehrlitic cumulates. These lithologies display marked positive Nb anomalies with depleted Th/La ratios and varying degrees of LREE enrichment. They can be subdivided into two groups based on Nb/Nb*, which are not related to each other via fractional crystallization or extent of partial melting. With their strong Nb-kick and broad La/Sm range, the Imrahor lithologies are more akin to FOZO (Focus Zone)- or C (common component)-type melts than EM (Enriched Mantle) and HIMU (high μ). The Zr-Nb systematics reveals that melt mixing was an essential process in the petrogenesis of these mafic rocks. Based on geochemical modeling, the trace element systematics of the İmrahor lithologies can be explained by melting metasomatized oceanic lithospheric mantle (OLM) infiltrated by very low-degree melt fractions. The metasomatized OLM may represent a recycled, plume-related material that has generated Nb-enriched melts during the Triassic Tethyan magmatism.